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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



GAY GODS 

and 

MERRY MORTALS 



GAY GODS AND 
MERRY MORTALS 



SOME EXCURSIONS IN VERSE 
BY ROBERT J. SHORES 




BROADWAY PUBLISHING CO. 

NEW YORK 
1910 



^<\': 



COPYRIGHT, 


1910, 


BY 




ROBERT J. SHORES 



€CU27852G 



TITLES AND PAGES 

Proem 7 

Actaeon ........ 8 

Adonis 10 

Proserpina 13 

Anaxarete 16 

Penelope 18 

Sappho 20 

Syrinx 22 

Tithonus 24 

Ariadne 27 

lo 29 

Dido 32 

Daphne 37 



Gay Gods and Merry Mortals 



PROEM. 

SOME ancient tales of Pagan days 
The author of this hook relates 
Explaining how in divers ways 

The gods displayed their human 
traits; 
And how they oft in other years 
Set human beings by the ears. 

Belike these rhymes recall to you 

The jingles of the poet Saxe; 
The poet here is Saxon, too, 

And so must needs relate his facts 
In such a way that they are clear 
And suited to the Saxon ear. 

Some anecdotes which Homer told 

You'll miss in this; but reader, pray 
Consider, what was good of old 

Would never pass the mails to-day. 
And hence this history belated 
Has been — well, slightly expurgated. 

[7] 



GAY GODS, AND 



ACTiEON. 



*^He saw her charming^ hut he saw not half 
The charms her downcast modesty con- 
cealed,'^ 

— Thomson. 



A 



CTtEON, with the winding horn, 
Pursued the Chase in ardent 
youth 

And what he wore when he was 
born; 
(And little else, to tell the truth. 
For in those days of which I speak 
They just changed sandals once a 

week!) 
And as he wandered from the path. 
Chanced on Diana in her bath. 

All trembling, like a startled fawn, 

Upstarted then the Goddess chaste. 
Sprang from the pool the bank upon 
And donned her crescent in great haste, 
(For, to her credit be it said. 
She did wear something on her head,) 
Then, the conventions satisfied 
Gazed on Actaeon, haughty-eyed. 

[8] 



MERRY MORTALS 

Actseon tumbled In a trice 

That he had got himself In Dutch, 
But thought If quite polite and nice 
She would not mind the thing so much. 
So the poor fool In this fond hope 
Said, "Tell me, did you use Pear's 

Soap?" 
Diana, vexed to hear the gag. 
Forthwith made Actaeon a stag. 

The Moral is, if you should chance 

Upon a lady In the nude. 
Remember this sad circumstance, 
For she'll get even If you're rude; 
And conversation, If uncouth, 
May cost you dear in naked truth ! 



[9] 



GAY GODS, AND 



ADONIS. 

DAN CUPID with a broken shaft 
Had bent his grand-dad, Jove, quite 
double, 
And then, to cap the climax, laughed; 
And so he found himself in trouble; 
Up on that august lap was yanked 
And thoroughly and soundly spanked. 
Till Cupid saddened, sobered, sore. 
Wished that his wings had sprouted 
lower. 

Dan Cupid then in rage and grief 

Straightway set out to find his mother, 
Who stitched upon her evening leaf, 
(She swore she didn't have another. 
Or, if she had, she still would swear 
She had none that was fit to wear.) 
And so the naughty youngster found 

her 
With leaves and sewing girls around 
her. 

When Venus heard her Infantas wail, 
In apprehension she besought him 

[lO] 



MERRY MORTALS 

To tell her all his angry tale; 

Then to her breast she, breathless, caught 
him. 
And, as his tear-stained face she kissed, 
Upon an arrow scratched her wrist. 
So in her veins in this strange fashion 
Was introduced the germ of passion. 

Indignant at the godlet's tale, 

She hastened to protest to Zeus, 
Her lovely cheek with anger pale, 

She was prepared to raise the deuce. 
But as Olympus' mount drew near, 
She spied Adonis chasing deer. 
And in a moment from her head 
All thoughts of wrath and Cupid fled. 

Straightway she hitched her gentle team 

Of doves, and left her carriage standing, 
For this fair youth to her doth seem 
A hero, comely and commanding — 
Although in fact and eke in truth 
He was a simple country youth; 
And so it happened that the Queen 
Of Beauty found him shy and green 

Now, Venus, veteran at the game 

Of flirting, would not be denied; 
As goddesses can feel no shame, 

tii] 



GAY GODS, AND 

She soon was anchored to his side; 
Do what he would, he could not shake 

her, 
Go where he would, he had to take her; 
Until one morn upon the plain 
She found the fair Adonis slain. 

This story should a warning be 

To maidens bold who wish to woo. 
For if you seek your lover, he 
Most certainly will not seek you ; 
All men may love, but just the same 
They would be hunters — not the game. 
Adonis, so the story saith, 
Was really simply boared to death! 



[12] 



MERRY MORTALS 



PROSERPINA. 

**Forth reaching to the fruit, she pluk'd, she 

eat; 
Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her 

seat 
Sighing through all her works gave signs of 

woe 
That all was lost.'* 

— Milton. 



o 



N Aetna^s isle Dis Pluto drove 

His devil-wagon one fine day, 
And passing through fair Enna's grove 
Beheld Proserpina at play; 

He asked, "Will you not take a ride?'* 
"You're very kind," the maid replied, 
And stepped Into his turn-out swell; 
And that was how she went to hell. 

For Pluto, whipping up his team, 

Sped on toward Tartarus in mirth, 
And when opposed by Cyane's stream, 
He took a short-cut through the earth. 
Nor paused, nor drew his rein before 
He heard Cerberus' welcome roar, 

[13] 



GAY GODS, AND 

And sniffed the smell of singeing soul 
By which he knew he'd reached his goal. 

Ceres, Proserpina's mamma, 

Was almost crazed with grief and fear; 
(As to Proserpina's papa. 

His name I never chanced to hear), 
She cursed for all that she was worth 
The crops and fruits of Mother Earth; 
"You'll bear no fruit," she told the 

Ground, 
"Until my Prossie has been found!" 

Jove, who beheld the farmer's need, 

And saw the season's crops all fail, 
Said, "This is Cereous, indeed. 
That fellow Dis should be In jail!" 

"I think," said Juno, " 'twere as well — 
It does no good to give him hell;" 
And so it might have been decreed 
But for one small pomegranate seed. 

In Hades Ceres' daughter sweet 

Was offered luscious bread and jam, 
But she was much too cross to eat 
And even scorned the deviled ham; 
Until at last she made a slip 
And swallowed a pomegranate pip; 

[14] 



MERRY MORTALS 

Now, they who eat in hell — alack ! 
To earth may never more come back. 

The Moral Is — don't take a chance 
Joy-riding with a strange chauffeur, 
Remember this sad circumstance 
Or you will get in trouble sure. 
If you must go — don't go alone. 
The devil hates a chaperone. 
So mind the pips and look alive — 
Dis Pluto often goes to drive! 



[15] 



I 



GAY GODS, AND 



ANAXARETE. 

N Cyprus dwelt Anaxarete, 

A maiden famous for her beauty, 
With disposition far from sweet, 
Who looked on flirting as a duty. 
'TIs said she scarcely would despise 
At slaves and such to roll her eyes, 
'Till most the men of Cyprus were 
In love, or half In love with her. 

Young Iphls was a worthy lad 

And born of parents poor but proud; 
He was a credit to his dad, 
Until one day while In a crowd 

He chanced a college chum to meet 
Out walking with Anaxarete; 
And when she rolled her lovely eyes 
Poor Iphls gasped in glad surprise. 

One glance, and Iphls was her slave, 

All other interests he forgot; 
Forgot to eat, forgot to shave. 

And wrote in rhyme a deal of rot 
To prove his heart was at the feet 
Of stony-cold Anaxarete; 
[i6] 



MERRY MORTALS 

Who met his protests and his tears 
With cutting jests and crushing sneers. 

For Ana, as do all coquettes, 

So soon grew aweary of his wooing, 
And Iphis took to cigarettes, 

But still she answered "Nothing doing!" 
And added — insult ne'er forgotten ! 
She thought his poetry was rotten; 
And finally to fix his place 
She slammed the door in Iphis' face. 

When Iphis saw that all was past. 

And knew that he could call no more, 
He took a rope and made it fast 

And hanged himself before her door. 
And, when his funeral passed her place, 
She thought to mock his pallid face; 
But Venus, leaning from her throne. 
Had seen, and turned the maid to stone. 

At Salamis, her statue still 

Points to the Moral of this tale — 
That any maid who flirts to kill 
Is really quite beyond the pale. 
And as for lovers; let me say 
If she is bored, just go away; 
No gentleman, and this I know, 
Will hang about when he's de trop! 

[17] 



GAY GODS, AND 



PENELOPE. 

'^Good-nature and good-sense must ever join; 
To err is human, to forgive, divine/' 

— Pope. 



p 



ENELOPE, a Spartan maid, 

The brave Ulysses wooed and wed, 
She in a modest blush arrayed. 
He with a crown upon his head. 

Two hearts that beat as one — no tear 
Bedimmed their bliss for one whole 

year; 
At Ithaca they dwelt in peace — 
Not Ithaca, New York — but Greece. 

Alas! Scarce had been born their boy» 

An infant very fair and bright, 
When came a horrid war in Troy 
And papa had to go and fight. 
He left Penelope in tears — 
He went and stayed for years and 

years; 
And while away, I am afraid, 
He sometimes wooed another maid. 
[i8] 



MERRY MORTALS 

In many lands he dwelt as guest 
Of ladies of exceeding beauty; 
Ulysses, it must be confessed, 
In flirting quite forgot his duty. 
He flirted here, he flirted there, 
In fact he flirted everywhere — 
With Calypso, Nausicaa, Circe — 
And he a man of family — Mercy! 

Penelope, dissolved in tears. 

Bewailed her spouse — the faithless Turk ! 
And stood off suitors twenty years 
By doing endless fancy work. 

By day she made her stitches right, 
But pulled them out again by night. 
Until her husband, tired of larks. 
Came home and slew that bunch of 
sparks. 

The husband, even though he err 

And lead abroad a lively life. 
Dislikes, when he comes back to her, 
To find that others woo his wife. 
Ulysses lacked in morals — true, 
But she had quite enough for two — 
May Eros grant a wife to me 
As patient as Penelope! 



[19] 



GAY GODS, AND 



SAPPHO. 

SAPPHO was pretty all agree, 
Some say that she was stately, 
You cannot prove it, though, by me — 
I haven't seen her lately. 
In fact, I do not now recall 
I ever saw the girl at all. 
So we must take Dame Rumor's word 
That Sappho was, indeed, a bird. 

Now, Sappho in her younger years, 

Was wooed by men a-plenty, 
And setting suitors by the ears 
Amused her much at twenty. 

She swore she'd not, at twenty-five. 
Accept the nicest man alive. 
And laughed to scorn the ardent Greek 
Who sought to kiss her damask cheek. 

But Sappho finds as years roll on, 

As oft a maid discovers, 
That when a maiden's youth is gone, 
Gone also are her lovers. 

No suitor hangs about her door 
To wait her coming as of yore; 

[20] 



MERRY MORTALS 

And .what is worse than all above — 
Just at this stage she falls in love. 

Just what she does, If tales are truth, 

(Fie on that rascal Cupid!) 
Is to select a verdant youth, 
A handsome boy, but stupid ! 

She tries her best to win his heart 
With all her once unfailing art, 
But finds — ah, Eros ! think of that! 
That Phaon thinks her old and fat. 

Poor Sappho keenly feels the shame 

Of love quite unrequited. 
And though she knows herself to blame, 
She feels her life Is blighted. 

And so when some one tells her If 
She will jump off a handy cliff 
'Twill cure her of her love and dumps — 
She rushes out — ah! ah — she jumps! 

Ah, reader, let us pause right here 

To drop a tiny, briny tear; 
Alas! Alack! Oh, woeful sight — 
It cured her of her love, all right! 

Fair maidens, heed this circumstance — 
Don't jump off cliffs — ^jump at your 
chance ! 

[21] 



GAY GODS, AND 



SYRINX. 

''Poor nymph — poor Pan — how he did weep 

to find 
Naught but a lovely sighing of the wind 
Along the reedy stream; a half-heard strain, 
Full of sweet desolation, balmy pain.'' 

— Keats. 



I 



N Greece there dwelt in days gone by 

A maiden huntress, passing fair, 
Who lived beneath the open sky 
And dearly loved the open air. 
Although it really seems a shame 
To call a lady such a name, 
This lovely nymph was called, methlnks, 
S-y-r-i-n-x, Syrinx. 

Syrinx, while following the Chase, 

Was seen one day by ardent Pan, 
A god of most repulsive face, 
A sort of burlesque on a man. 

If we can trust what ancients wrote, 
Poor Pan was really half a goat — 
Not like the Peter Pan to-day 
The Misses Chase and Adams play. 

[22] 



MERRY MORTALS 

When Pan began swift to pursue, 
The maiden in her terror fled, 
(I cannot blame her much, can you?) 
And ran 'till she was almost dead; 
But friendly spirits in a stream 
Had heard and understood her scream, 
And they had changed her in a wink 
To reeds upon the river's brink. 

The god, though thwarted in his scheme 

To win the nymph, was not dismayed. 

He plucked the reeds beside the stream 

And from them a ^'Syrinx" he made. 

The shepherd's pipes — so came to man 

The music of the Pipes o' Pan. 

The Moral? There is none; you see 
Pan was, as poets all agree, 
A most immoral deity! 



[23] 



GAY GODS, AND 



TITHONUS. 

TITHONUS, royal prince of Troy, 
All mortal maidens' beauty scorning. 
Chose for his love, presumptuous boy! 
Aurora, goddess of the morning. 

To her he wrote his royal rhymes. 
For her he saved his royal dimes; 
So well, indeed, he played his part, 
He won at last the goddess' heart. 

Aurora, wise as gods must be. 

Was well aware that all men perish, 
And knowing this she bent the knee, 

(What won't we do for those we 
cherish!) 
And thus she prayed to Jove on high: 
"Oh, please don't let TIthonus die!" 
And this, the whole of her endeavor — 
That TIthy, dear, might live forever. 

Now, Jove, although a deity. 
Was very fond of mortal ladles. 

And more than once, he, even he. 

Had grieved to see them go to Hades. 
"I quite agree with you," he said, 

[24] 



MERRY MORTALS 

"Tithonus would be dull If dead. 
So be content, I, even I, 
Decree Tithonus shall not die!" 

Aurora, full of love and joy. 

Laughed out in Pluto's face of gloom, 
And hastened off to tell her boy 

That she had saved him from the tomb. 
But, ah, how foolish to forget 
One other evil to be met ! 
'TIs sad to say, but must be told. 
She quite forgot he might grow old. 

Grow old he did, as most men do, 

Grew gray and bald and round of tummy; 
Grew deaf, grew cross and crabbed, too; 
Grew bent and wrinkled like a mummy. 
''Oh, Gee! Oh, Fudge! My Sakes! 

Good Lands ! 
What's this I've got upon my hands?" 
Aurora cried, nor gave a hang 
Who heard her use such vulgar slang. 

"Alas!" she cried, "is it decreed — 
And it is even right and proper? 
That I forever more should feed 
A foolish, mulish old grasshopper?" 
Tithonus hopped — for, you must know 
That what a goddess says is so! 

[25] 



GAY GODS, AND 

Tithonus, stricken but resigned, 
Hopped out of sight and out of mind. 

The Moral is — that age and youth 

Have aye been illy yoked together, 
For love cannot survive, in truth, 
A prolonged spell of wintry weather. 
So, when you hear your lady sigh: 
''Alas! My Love will never die!" 
Just heed Aurora's hint, I say. 
And hope no more — but hop awayl 



[26] 



MERRY MORTALS 



ARIADNE. 

*'Fool, not to know that love endures no tie, 
And Jove but laughs at lover's perjury J^ 

— Dryden. 

THE Minotaur, a horrid beast 
Which made its food of maidens fair 
And handsome youths, to say the least 
Had given Athens quite a scare. 

Since Athens sent each year to Crete 
A batch of folks for him to eat; 
'Till on King Minos Athens soured, 
For no one likes to be devoured. 

Just as the folks of Athens had 

Prepared to risk their all in war, 

Young Theseus, to the King, his dad, 

Proffered his services and swore 

That he would go to Crete and slay 
The Minotaur without delay; 
And so with helmet-box and grip 
He started on the fateful trip. 

Now, Minos had a daughter fair. 
Who was humane as well as Cretan, 

And all in all, she did not care 

To see the handsome stranger eaten. 

[27] 



GAY GODS, AND 

So she resolved that she would aid 
Young Theseus in his escapade, 
Although she knew her royal dad 
Would certainly be hopping mad. 

The Minotaur, King Minos kept 
Within a sort of mystic maze, 
And in those corridors, unswept, 

A man might wander, lost, for days. 
And Ariadne's scheme, in fine, 
Was just to take a ball of twine 
And let the youth unroll the thing 
And so be guided by the string. 

All went as planned — oh, lucky star! 

The sword of Theseus soon was wet, 
And slaughtered was the Minotaur; 
The king had lost his gruesome pet. 
The lovers fled the monarch's wrath 
But even on the homeward path 
The hero, bored to hear her weep, 
On Noxas left her fast asleep. 

The Moral is — you should not string 

Young men, unless you know them well; 
For love is an uncertain thing 

And strange young men, however swell, 
If loosely tied and quickly bored. 
Will quit you of their own accord. 

[28] 



MERRY MORTALS 



I 



lo. 

O and Jove were holding hands 

One day beside a sylvan stream 
And drawing hearts upon the sands- 
Epitome of Love's young dream! 
Fair lo murmured, "On my hfe, 
Why took you Juno for your wife? 
The ox-eyed Juno ! In good sooth 
Peroxide would be nearer truth!" 

"Tut-tut!" said Jove, "you should not speak 

So slightingly of my good spouse; 
She has been busy all this week 
Up on Olympus cleaning house. 

And while she sweeps, I've naught to do 
But stay here making love to you!" 
"She would do well," the maid replies, 
"To sweep the dust from out her eyes." 

Alas for lo! Juno heard 

Her Idle words within the hour; 

Some gossip of a bee or bird 

Repeated them from flower to flower, 
Until 'twas whispered by the leaves 

[29] 



GAY GODS, AND 

At Juno's threshold — "Jove deceives I" 
"Deceived again?" she cried in rage; 
To see what happened, turn the page. 

Or, if the printer can find room 

To print another line on this, 
I'll state that Juno heard a boom 
Of thunder — which is when gods kiss. 
And hurried angrily to where 
She thought to find the erring pair; 
But reaching there she saw, I vow. 
No maiden, but a heifer cow! 

For Jove, grown wise in other years 

In which he got his just deserts, 
Was ever pricking up his ears 

To hear the swish of Juno's skirts. 
So, when he heard her on his trail, 
He made his hat a milking pail 
And changed poor lo, trembling now, 
Into the semblance of a cow. 

But Juno was not quite a fool 

And saw at once her husband's trick, 
And, though appearing calm and cool. 
Resolved to make that heifer sick. 
"A lovely cow!" cried she. "Divine! 
I cannot rest 'till it is mine!" 

[30] 



MERRY MORTALS 

Jove cleared his throat and smoothed 

his vest 
But had to grant his wife's request. 

Alas for lo ! Juno sent 

A gad-fly which beset her sore, 
And drove her — which was the intent — 
From sea to sea and shore to shore. 
To Egypt and the Barbadoes, 
Perhaps to Iowa — who knows? 
The gad-fly followed where she went 
And stung her to his heart's content. 

And so It happens, even now. 

Although she vainly tries to grab it, 

The gad-fly stings the gentle cow — 
He keeps it up from force of habit. 



[31] 



GAY GODS, AND 



DIDO. 

*^Up, then, Melpomene! the mournfulest 

Muse of Nine, 
Such cause of 7nourning never hadst afore; 
Up, grislie ghostes! and up, my rufull 

rhyme F' 

— Spenser. 

4C/^N such a night," as Shakespeare 
\^ once remarked, 

On such a night as lovers love to 
spoon, 
Aeneas In his cockleshell embarked 
And left poor Dido weeping 'neath the 
moon; 
A palm-leaf In her hand, as Shake- 
speare said. 
The crown of ancient Carthage on her 

head; 
'Twas thus Aeneas jilted the fair dame 
And put the chivalry of Greece to 
shame. 

Fair Dido, to go back a little way. 

Had fled the vengeance of her brother's 
ire, 

[32] 



MERRY MORTALS 

Who slew her wealthy husband one fine day 
And chased his widowed sister out of 

Tyre; 
Pygmalion was the name he bore at 

court, 
Though Dido always called him "Pyg" 

for short; 
Methinks the greedy nature of the 

youth 
Made Dido's nickname fit him well in 

truth. 

Arriving, then, on Afric's sunny shore 
With some few friends who followed in 
her train, 
She built herself some houses and a store, 
Laid out a street and called It Lover's 
Lane. 
And since the town was hers, none 

could gainsay 
Her right to royal rule and social sway; 
And so it is quite easy to be seen 
How, when Aeneas came, he found her 
queen. 

Aeneas and some refugees from Troy 

Were wandering about uncharted seas; 
Aeneas had a cold — unlucky boy ! 

[33] 



GAY GODS, AND 

('Twould wring your heart to hear his 

mournful sneeze!) 
In fact, they all were troubled as to 

nose. 
Clad as they were in lightest marching 

clothes ; 
So when they came at last to Dido's 

land, 
fThey were a sick and sorry-looking 

band. 

*'Not unacquainted with distress,'' she said, 
"I've learned to succor all the down and 
out;" 
Straightway she had them all tucked into 
bed, 
And caused her heralds In the street to 
shout: 
*'Queen Dido seeks a sovereign cure for 

chills. 
Bring mustard plasters, poultices and 

pills ; 
The victor she'll reward and make his 

name 
A synonym for fortune and for fame." 

As always, when incentive Is supplied. 

Some pharmacist got busy on the spot, 
Made little pills with quinine stuffed Inside; 

[34] 



MERRY MORTALS 

She made him rich, but famous he Is not. 

We take them now, but who is there can 
tell 

The doctor who first served mankind 
so well? 

But let us haste — this yarn, beyond all 
doubt, 

Grows dull apace, and slow, and long- 
drawn-out. 

To cut It short; she loved him; he loved her; 
He stuck around; she made him quite at 
home ; 
The two were quite domestic I infer 
Until Aeneas took a boat for Rome. 
Rome wasn^t there — but what cared he 

for that? 
'Most any town will do to dodge a flat; 
Aeneas felt that he could love that spot, 
Where'er it be — so be Dido was not. 

Dido, deserted, built a funeral pyre, 

On which she mounted with a wicked 
knife; 
She bade a servant set the thing afire, 

And with the dagger put an end to life. 
So perished Dido; died, oh died for 

love ! 
So Dido died, as I have said above, 

[35] 



GAY GODS, AND 

Sweet Dido, loveliest lady of the land, 
On such a night — a palm-leaf In her 
hand! 

The Moral? This Is not a moral tale. 

What do we learn from It? Well, I should 
say 
We learn that merry widows sometimes fall, 

And cutting didoes doesn't always pay. 



[36] 



MERRY MORTALS 



DAPHNE. 



AIR Daphne was a modest miss, 

A convert of the "Kiss Not" fad, 
Who swore no man should know her 
kiss, 
Unless it be her dear old dad. 
E'en as a tot It caused her grief 
To play at "Drop the handkerchief"; 
She called each youthful suitor, 

"Brute!" 
Who offered her a chaste salute. 

In vain her father bade her wed. 

In vain he urged, in vain entreated; 
She only shook her pretty head. 
And all his arguments defeated. 

"Talk not of men," she said. "To me, 
Diana's priestess I would be. 
And range the woods, heart-free, foot- 
loose. 
To kill the chipmunk and the moose." 

"Ah, well!" he sighed (It is a shame, 
And rather mars this graceful verse, 
I cannot rhyme his beastly name), 

[37] 



GAY GODS, AND 

"Ah, well! Perhaps you might do worse. 
I longed for grand-sons, but" — a sigh — 
*'The cost of living sure is high; 
I'm tired of fish and long for liver!" 
Her pa, Peneus, was a river. 

And so it happened. Daphne did 

Devote her days unto the Chase; 
Whene'er she saw a man, she hid; 
Nor would she show her pretty face 
To any man except her father; 
A modest little maiden? Rather! 
So modest she — she would not flirt 
Her dainty little hunting skirt! 

Though best-laid plans of mice and men 
May go astray; no mouse, no man, 

Can hope to bring the wit in play 
That e'en the dullest godling can. 

For gods beat human folks all hollow — 
Especially the god Apollo; 
Apollo, who was far from stupid. 
Had heard of Daphne from Dan Cupid, 
And he resolved that he would see 
How true young Cupid's tale might be. 

He laid In wait and spied the maid. 

Who tripped along the woodland path, 
In haste and somewhat disarrayed, 

[38] 



MERRY MORTALS 

Intent upon her evening bath, 

Not dreaming that a soul was near, 
Until upon her startled ear 
There broke a single love-lorn sigh, 
Which warned her that the god was 
nigh. 

Then like a startled fawn she fled, 

The grass scarce bending 'neath her feet. 
Her hair out-streaming from her head. 
Her face as pale as any sheet. 
And as she fled the god pursued, 
(A most ungentle act, and rude!) 
And gained, and gained, and gained so 

fast. 
She thought her breath must fall at 
last! 

"Help! Help!'^ she cried. 'Teneus, aid 

Your daughter — save, oh, save me now! 
So weary and so sore afraid!" 
And in a moment on her brow 
Some tiny twigs began to grow, 

Her feet took root — for, you must know, 
Her father, by divine decree. 
Transformed his daughter to a tree! 

"Ah!" sighed Apollo, "what Is this? 
My tree! You can't escape me now!" 

[39] 



GAY GODS, AND 

Upon her trunk he pressed a kiss — 
Poor Daphne blushed in every bough; 
*Tou have," said he, *'a lovely limb;'* 
(Say, honest, I'm ashamed of him!) 
How sad to see a perfect lady 
Become a character so shady! 

The Moral is — be careful how 

You dress when you go out to swim; 

Poor Daphne might be hunting now. 
Instead of wearing trunks for him! 



[40] 



MERRY MORTALS 



HERE ENDETH 

J^ 

THIS LITTLE BOOK 

J^ J^ J^ 

OF 
4^ J^ J^ 

PAGAN POEMS 
J0^ 



[41] 



f 



DEC "f^ 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 






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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

015 930 100 7'''"' m 



